Grown-up Faith

I let another speak for me

And think somehow his words must be

More balanced, thoughtful, wise and true

My own, naïve and will not do

I let another set my mind

And follow in his footsteps blind

Refuse to measure, weigh each word

But swallow whole, the things I’ve heard

I let another tell me how

To choose those things I should allow

All actions labelled, nought to guess

All the “answers” I possess

I let another fix my gaze

A lens to see through worldly haze

A compass pointing always “true”

A formula to see me through

But when these “answers” will not fit

On formulae I cannot sit

What then? How will I win the day?

Or will I fall and fade away?

My faith, my own, “grown-up” must be

If I’m to sail the open sea

The time for milk has had its day

A time for growth now comes my way

My words, my thoughts, the way I feel

The man in me these things reveal

And so I choose to put away

The childish things of yesterday